Q: How do I get this person out of my mobile home? Does he have rights if he's not on the lease & pays nothing?
My friend got evicted for non payment. He said he needed a place temporarily for a couple weeks. He is dealing with cancer, so I let him stay in my mobile home. It's now been 3 months & he doesn't seem to be making any plans to move & doesn't pay anything. I can't afford to foot the bill for him & really need him to go. Portland, OR
A: Assuming you are in Oregon, then yes, if he has been there 3 months, he has established a residency and has rights, no matter how infuriating that may be. IF he not only does not pay rent but also never agreed to, then he is essentially a guest who has overstayed his welcome and refuses to leave. That would mean that you will need to file a lawsuit seeking to eject him from the property (as opposed to evicting him if he was a tenant and owed rent). The end goal in eviction and ejectment is the same - throw him out, with the Sheriff's help if necessary - but the legal process for getting there is very different and they are even in different branches of the court. Unfortunately, ejectment generally takes longer and is more expensive than eviction though in my experience not grossly more expensive since most of the occupants have no valid basis to stay. Regardless, the place for you to start is to see a landlord-tenant attorney and review all the facts in detail; make a game plan for how to best address this; and then proceed step by step to remove this fellow. It is a highly technical process and this is not a do-it-yourself project. Best of luck.
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